W5 - pt 1 - language development

Question 1

At around what age do children produce their first recognizable word?

Answer 1

~12 months

Question 2

By ~15 months, how large is a child’s typical vocabulary?

Answer 2

~25 words or word fragments

Question 3

Around what age does a child’s vocabulary reach approximately 300 words?

Answer 3

~2 years

Question 4

What is the typical vocabulary range for a 5-year-old experiencing a “vocabulary spurt”?

Answer 4

10,000–15,000 words

Question 5

What is the estimated vocabulary size of an 18-year-old?

Answer 5

60,000 words

Question 6

What term is used to describe a child’s rapid vocabulary increase around age 5?

Answer 6

Vocabulary spurt or naming explosion

Question 7

In Stage 1: Babbling (4-9 months), how are the sounds produced?

Answer 7

Repetitive and meaningless (e.g., ‘bababa’)

Question 8

During babbling, what happens to infants’ ability to distinguish sounds?

Answer 8

They become more attuned to native language sounds over time

Question 9

What is the characteristic feature of the One-Word or Holophrastic Stage?

Answer 9

Single words represent entire thoughts (e.g., ‘mama’ for ‘I want mama’)

Question 10

What types of words do infants commonly produce first?

Answer 10

Concrete nouns (objects they can see and interact with)

Question 11

What is ‘Final Consonant Deletion’ in early speech development?

Answer 11

Dropping the final consonant in words (e.g., ‘dog’ becomes ‘do’)

Question 12

What phonological process changes ‘stop’ to ‘top’?

Answer 12

Consonant Cluster Reduction

Question 13

Which stage marks the beginning of simple syntax in toddlers’ speech?

Answer 13

Stage 3: Two-Word Stage (18-24 months)

Question 14

How do two-word combinations like ‘daddy sleep’ signify language development?

Answer 14

They show emerging syntax, indicating understanding of relationships

Question 15

What is omitted in ‘telegraphic speech’?

Answer 15

Function words like ‘the,’ ‘is,’ and ‘on’

Question 16

What type of sentence structure is common in Stage 4: Telegraphic Speech?

Answer 16

Brief three-word sentences, primarily nouns, verbs, and adjectives

Question 17

At what stage can fetuses begin perceiving sounds in the womb?

Answer 17

Prenatal stage

Question 18

What did DeCasper & Spence’s 1986 study on prenatal sound perception reveal?

Answer 18

Newborns recognize familiar prosody from stories heard prenatally

Question 19

How does the Non-Nutritive Sucking Method measure infant speech perception?

Answer 19

By observing sucking rate changes in response to new sounds

Question 20

What is ‘categorical perception’ in infants?

Answer 20

Ability to detect sound differences, like between ‘ba’ and ‘pa’

Question 21

Before ~1 year, how do infants respond to sounds from different languages?

Answer 21

They can distinguish sounds universally, but this fades with age

Question 22

What is significant about infants’ first vocalizations like crying and cooing?

Answer 22

They are universal, emotion-driven, and not language-specific

Question 23

What does ‘manual babbling’ in deaf infants show?

Answer 23

Babbling can develop as gestures in signed languages

Question 24

Which sounds are often produced first during babbling?

Answer 24

Front-of-mouth sounds like /p/, /m/, /d/

Question 25

At what age do children often experience a ‘word explosion’?

Answer 25

~18 months

Question 26

What is the phenomenon called where children learn words after minimal exposure?

Answer 26

Fast Mapping

Question 27

What kind of word error involves applying ‘doggie’ to all four-legged animals?

Answer 27

Overextension

Question 28

What type of word error occurs when a child only calls roses ‘flowers’?

Answer 28

Underextension

Question 29

What is the ‘Whole Object Assumption’ in early language acquisition?

Answer 29

Children assume words label whole objects rather than parts

Question 30

What bias do children develop around age 2 that aids vocabulary growth?

Answer 30

Shape Bias

Question 31

Which assumption suggests each object has only one label?

Answer 31

Mutual Exclusivity Assumption

Question 32

According to Gentner’s research, what word type is easier for children to learn?

Answer 32

Nouns (Noun-Category Bias)

Question 33

What is the main idea behind Behaviorist language acquisition theories?

Answer 33

Language is learned through imitation and reinforcement

Question 34

What did Brown & Hanlon (1970) conclude about grammar correction in language learning?

Answer 34

Adults respond more to content than grammar in child speech

Question 35

According to Nativist theories, how do children acquire grammar universally?

Answer 35

Through an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

Question 36

What does Vygotsky’s Social Interactionist theory highlight?

Answer 36

The role of interaction with caregivers in language learning

Question 37

What is Piaget’s view on the connection between language and cognitive development?

Answer 37

Language is tied to the development of cognitive structures

Question 38

How do children from cultures without Child-Directed Speech (CDS) learn language?

Answer 38

They still acquire language through observation and context

Question 39

What characteristic of CDS (Motherese) makes it engaging for infants?

Answer 39

Higher pitch, slower pace, exaggerated intonation

Question 40

Which language learning theory stresses a ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate) model?

Answer 40

Behaviorist Accounts (e.g., Skinner)